Chettinad Fish Fry & God

Chettinad Meen - Chettinad Fish Fry

Deep thoughts around Christmas time

Big Sis S: Did you know Jesus died and then came back again ?

Me: Yes

BSS: Did you know that was during Easter ?

Me: Yes

BSS: So is he around now or did he again go to heaven ?

Me: He became old, got tired of living here and so went back to heaven

BSS: So what, he is an angel now ?

Unsure Me:Mmmm, I think he became God

BSS: How can Jesus be GOD, GOD is his father, remember Jesus is God's son.

Very unsure Me: Mmmm....

Now exasperated BSS: So what happened to GOD ? Did GOD become something else ? Or is GOD is no longer there ?

Very very unsure Me: Maybe GOD retired.

And with that said, lets have some Chettinad Fish Fry. I had never had Chettinad Fish Fry until a couple of months back. We had brought home, some steak pieces of sword fish and being new to sword fish, wasn't sure what to make of them. D suggested Chettinad Fish Fry which apparently he had at Legal Seafoods and had liked a lot. Of all the recipes on Chettinad Fish that turned up on Google, he said the dry one at Malar's Kitchen Tantra seemed closest to the fish fry he had tasted. I followed the recipe exactly and only skipped the tamarind paste because we are not too fond of that much sourness. I also did not add the eggs, all else was followed to the tee.

The fry turned out to be delicious and since then I have made the Chettinad Fish Fry with Sword Fish and also Tilapia. The pic here is the one with Tilapia fillet.


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Original recipe here.

Chettinad Fish Fry

The following recipe is for 4 pieces of Tilapia Loins


Dry Roast till fragrant and Grind to a fine powder
1 tsp of Fennel seeds
1 tsp Coriander seeds
2 Cloves
1 Star Anise
1" stick of Cinnamon
3 Dry red chilies
1 tsp Peppercorns

In a pan, warm a little oil.
Saute until soft and aromatic
4-5 cloves of Garlic
1" Ginger
a sprig of Curry Leaves
Make a rough paste of above in a mortar and pestle.

Saute 1 tomato chopped. This gives some juice and color if you are skipping tamarind

In a mixer jar add the
Dry Masala Powder
Wet Masala of Garlic-Ginger-Curry Leaves and
Tomato
little Turmeric
Chili powder to taste
3 tsp Lemon juice
Note: I skipped 1 tsp Tamarind paste
Add salt to taste and make a smooth masala paste.

Marinate the fillet of fish or steak pieces of fish in this masala marinade for 1 - 2 hours

Heat oil in a Frying Pan. I shallow fried the fish so not too much oil.

Add quarter of an onion finely sliced , fry till translucent. Add 3-4 curry leaves. Remove and keep aside

Add the fish pieces and cook till both sides are brown and crisp. Add the fried onions and curry leaves

Serve hot

Bhaja Moog er Dal -- sabji diye

I thought I was done with pre-holiday posting and could get on with my life with minimal cooking & much entertaining till the next week. Only 2 more days to a 4 day holiday weekend makes you feel like that.

But then there came the snow, and what a snowfall it was. Unlike the washingtonians who take their snow seriously and stock themselves up, we are more lackadaisical. We think, what will 12 inches of snow do to us as so we relax, until we see we are in deep sh** err snow and the pantry lacks bare necessities like onions and Marie Biscuit. Fortunately there were enough leftovers from the Friday night impromptu party, to tide over two meals. But the soul was still craving deep fried pakodas or something hot in a bowl.

What could a Bong female do in such a situation but make a bowlful of Bhaja Moog er Dal(Roasted Yellow Moong dal). She went an extra half mile, in her head, not snow and added cauliflowers and shrimp to it. That made it a bowl of warm, yellow goodness in the midst of a white snowy December.

In other news we have a Christmas tree this time, yeah our first time. The Christmas potluck party has decided to be hosted in our home and since we were asked not to cook anything except, ahem, Rice, the best we could do is bring home Christmas cheer in way of a cheap, $35 plastic tree. Sorry Charlie Brown, couldn't get a wooden Christmas Tree, this time.

Charlie Brown's Christmas on Hulu, free until Jan 1, 2010

And that brings on another question. Since Christmas seems to be all about Giving, how do you like Giving ? Do you like to Give where you are recognized as a Giver and can brag about it with a pink pin, a printed name, a plaque in your name or do you believe in selfless giving, where the giver actually keeps a low profile and giving is really about the other person and not you. Do you think 'Selfish' Giving is less moral and ruins the spirit of giving ? Read more...

Back to the Bhaja Moog er dal or the Dry Roasted Yellow Moong Dal, which with its nutty roasted aroma claims to be one of those landmark Bengali Dals. This Dal is rich enough to be served on important occasions like pre-wedding lunches etc. and also is served for comforting home lunches. This has a vegetarian version and a fishy version with fish head or a more international Bengali version with shrimp. The one here is a combination of the veggies and fish in form of cauliflower and shrimp. 

Get this recipe in my Book coming out soon. Check this blog for further updates. 

Bhaja Moog'er Dal

Roast the Dal Dry roast   1 & 1/2 cup of Yellow Moong Dal for 6-8 minutes at medium heat. You should not burn the dal in the process, as soon as you get a nice , warm roasted nutty aroma, you know you are done.   Note: Dry roast means, do not use oil, roast it dry. Wash the roasted dal in several changes of cold water. Cook the Dal You can cook the dal two ways. If using a pressure cooker, put the roasted and washed lentils in the cooker with double amount of water and a little turmeric. Cook for 3-4 mins at full pressure. If you are not using the cooker, put the dal with about 4 cups of water and a little turmeric in a pot on the stove top. Let it cook. The dal will bubble and froth, skim the froth. Add more water if necessary and cook till lentils are soft and edible but not mushy. This will take a good half hour to get cooked   Temper the Dal I have used cauliflower and shrimp here. You can make this completely vegetarian by using cauliflower and green peas or just green peas. You can also use greens like finely chopped spinach though peas and cauliflower are more popular choices. Clean and devein 8-10 medium sized shrimp, sprinkle salt and keep aside for 5 minutes. Chop quarter of a cauliflower in small florets. We need about 10-12 small florets. Heat Oil(or Ghee) in a soup pot/kadhai. Fry the shrimp with a little turmeric. As soon as they turn a light orange, remove and keep aside. Fry the cauliflower florets till they get little brown spots, remove and keep aside. Add a little more oil to the pot. About 1/2 tsp of ghee at this point works very well. Temper the oil with   1 tsp of Cumin seeds,  2 small bay leaf,  1" thin cinnamon stick,  3 dry red chilli. When the spices sputter, add   1 heaped tsp of fresh grated ginger or ginger paste. Saute for half a min and add the cooked dal. Add salt and mix well. If the dal is too thick, add about 1 and 1/2 cup of water and let it simmer and come to a boil. Add 1/4-1/2 tsp of sugar and mix. Add the cauliflower and shrimp, mix and switch off the heat. If you have not used Ghee as the cooking medium stir in 1/2 -- 1 tsp of Ghee and let the dal sit for 10 mins to soak the flavors before serving.   Note: I do not add ghee when I am making this for just us, so you can skip if you want but it does lend a lot of flavor. I like a slight hint of lime in my dal and so I added a tsp of sliced lemon grass to this dal. This is definitely optional but lends a nice touch. Eat this dal as a soup or with white rice. This dal goes to MLLA 18 hosted by Srivalli and started off by dear Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook

Nutella Chocolate Truffles -- oodles of delight

If you close your eyes and take a deep breath, you can feel the warm fuzzy feeling of the holidays, warm, gooey, rich, chocolatey like Nutella. If you are out in the mall you can feel the last minute crazy holiday shopping. Both ways you feel the warmth of the season and you need that because it is so darn cold out there that you would want to hibernate.

Christmas always holds a special place in my heart, a convent school does that to you. You spend winter holidays copying red poinsettias and waxing candles from glossy gilted Christmas picture cards and impose those works of art unto gullible relatives, you insist your parents bake or at least get a cake on Christmas because it is Jesus' birthday, you think "Silent Night" is the most melodious thing on earth and you wish you could hang up a stocking.

I appreciate Christmas all the more now, it is at least something to look forward to till Spring makes its arrival. Imagine cold dark winters without a single house with twinkling fairy lights in your neighborhood , how dull would that be. I like it better because I don't have much shopping to do, I can relax and just bask in the holiday feeling.

To light up your cold days, I have something special today. Guess what ? Nutella and Chocolate Truffles. If someone would have told me last week that I would make chocolate truffles I would have muttered "in your dreams". I always thought truffles or anything that sounds as "ruffles" is mighty hard. Right ? Absolutely wrong. These Nutella Chocolate Truffles are so easy that a 8 year old could make it. This absolute gorgeous recipe is from Sunita's Nutella and Dark Chocolate Truffles. I blindly followed her recipe and because S loves decorating sprinkles I used those instead of using nuts etc. to roll the truffles in. I rolled some in cocoa powder though. These were a big surprise for S and she couldn't believe I made them at home. Thanks Sunita.

These make great holiday gifts for the kiddos and their play dates and their Moms and Dads and grandparents and....

I am sending this off to Cham@Spiceclub for her MEC event which was originally started by Srivalli. This also goes to Sugar High Friday -- Holiday Edition @Cherrapeno

Happy Holidays



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Nutella and Chocolate Truffles

What You Need

400 gms of nutella
100 gms of dark chocolate
4tblsp of honey
1 tblsp of ghee ( clarified butter)

How I Did It

In a microwave safe bowl, place all the nutella, dark chocolate, honey and ghee.

Microwave the mixture till the chocolate melts. In my microwave it took about 2 and 1/2 mins at full power

Remove the bowl from the microwave. With a spoon, stir the mixture vigorously till smooth. Magically the mixture will slowly start transforming to a dough. Shape it into a lump, place it again in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill till the mixture is firm enough to roll into balls. I chilled the dough for about 40 mins.

While rolling, work fast and with your hand make balls by rolling between your palms like you would do for say Coconut Laddoos. Wet your palms to avoid chocolate sticking to the palm.If the mixture begins to feel too soft, chill a little more. Place the balls in mini muffin cups.

If you are rolling the balls in cocoa powder or rolling in sprinkles, do so and chill again before serving. For other ideas see Sunita's recipe.

Take out from the refrigerator a minute before serving to soften it a wee bit.